New Horizons
by Pikahiiri
Summary: The story of a valiant warrior's quest to be with the girl he loves. (Mostly within the Warcraft Universe).
1. Chapter 1

Darkness. Nothingness. It was difficult to see anything in such a gloom. It seemed that some sort of magic was preventing the sun's light from permeating this dank place. Only the sound of heavy breathing and the lumbering, oafish footfalls of ill-trained soldiers slogging through the area could be heard, their metal armour giving them away with its distinctive clanking. Occasionally they stopped clumsily and muttered to each other in deep, guttural voices before continuing on. They were searching for something, or someone.

The soldiers wandered on for only a few seconds after stopping to communicate a change in direction before a flash of light erupted before them. The fighters, revealed as Orcs, scattered around the now-illuminated cave, blinded by the light coming from the torch that was just lit. The desired effect met, the creature holding it discarded it to the floor and drew its sword. It had been a male Human; the one the Orcs had been chasing. The man stood slightly shorter and leaner than the Orcs, but this appearance merely belied his strength, skill and ferocity as he dispatched his assailants in mere seconds as the torch on the floor served to guide his sword as he cut each of them down in their disoriented states, decorating the cave with their blood while they weren't able to muster even the most meagre of resistance.

Outside in a town not far away the weather was mild. The sun was shining and children could be seen playing in the streets while adults working as merchants or labourers diligently went about their business. The air was however, somewhat muted, as if each person had a burden weighing down on them, as if they were awaiting the arrival of terrible news. Shortly after the sun had passed over the middle of the sky, a cry was heard. The majority of the people outdoors stopped and turned to look in the direction of the noise. "He's back!"

A faint hubbub grew among the townspeople as a Human strode confidently toward them, his blood-stained armour glinting in the sun; this had been the man the people were waiting for. As he arrived into the bazaar he was quickly swarmed and surrounded as all noise died down in anticipation of his news. The man slowly crouched down and patted a small girl on the head, smiling at her lightly before looking up and around at everyone encircling him. "The barbaric Orcs holding your town to ransom have been silenced. Their kin shall not bother you either; I sent them a warning using their primary raiding party. Your town shall know peace once more."

As the words came from his mouth there seemed to be an utter void of silence for what seemed like an eternity, the children who were mostly unaware of the weight of any of these events looked around quizzically and some jumped when the ensuing cheer erupted from everyone in the bazaar, the people inside buildings now coming out to find out the cause of the disruption and joining in with the jubilation as people began to celebrate in the streets, the hero of the people; the man who had killed the Orcs terrorising the town, arms and all, was lifted up and carried across the town toward the tavern. Now was the time for everyone to celebrate their newly granted freedom.

The tavern was full of life as the sun's light began to diminish behind the horizon. The fire in the stone hearth provided ample light and warmth to the tavern otherwise built and adorned with wood providing a warm, welcoming atmosphere and the revelry did not show any signs of waning. Among all the celebration the tavern staff was still hard at work so that everyone else might have a good time and one girl weaved in and out of the crowd carrying a tray of several tankards of ale toward the table with the most commotion. "Here is your order Taylor. Are you adequately comfortable sir?"

The man nodded slightly "Yes, thank you very much." The hero now identified as Taylor had not even been given a chance to remove his armour before being showered with gifts of meat and ale from the tavern patrons, Taylor would have merely enjoyed seeing the townspeople happy as he was not native to this place, nor would he be staying long, he was simply well-known across the land for both his skill and his compassion for people in need and was often called upon to save people in dire straits, but thoroughly appreciated the town's generosity and took pleasure in revelling alongside them. He laughed at a joke the man next to him had made and raised his tankard to drink as something caught his eye.

A figure moving around the tavern as if it were floating and did so unhindered as though it was a ghost simply passing straight through people. Taylor put down his tankard to better look at the figure. It was a maiden with the most beautiful, long brown hair that moved as though it was made of liquid. She turned to look at him and smiled. Her eyes were a beautiful, vibrant green and her smile lit up the room, together with her flowing white dress and her smooth white skin her appearance served to distinguish her from the crowd of the tavern, entirely drawing Taylor's attention. He looked down into his ale, grinning to himself meekly. Maybe he would have to stay in this town longer than he had previously intended.


	2. Chapter 2

Birds flocked into the sky, agitated by the sound created by the men in the forest below. The two humans sidestepped the tree they just felled as it came crashing down. Taylor set down the axe he had used to cut the tree and let out a sigh of relief. This should grant the town enough firewood for a while; it was a small town and this was a large tree. Tallen as he learned the town was called, was a place of little significance to the wider world; its only exports being dried meats and pelts from the woodland animals in the surrounding area. This explained why there wasn't so much as the smallest garrison to protect the town from any threats and the only blacksmith in town had no expertise in forging or mending weaponry so even a militia would be out of the question.

Taylor's thoughts were brought back to his current task when he heard the sounds of his companion, Mark, cutting up the trunk of the freshly-felled tree to load the wood onto his cart and transport back to Tallen. Taylor then lifted his axe and moved up to the tree to assist Mark. "Say, have you seen a girl around here with beautiful brown hair and the most dazzling eyes? She was at the tavern upon my return from dealing with your town's... Problem." Taylor attempted to seem nonchalant as he avoided looking at Mark, instead focussing on cutting through the tree's thick trunk.

"Why yes. If it's the girl I think it is, she's the daughter of a bloke of nobility. She's gotta be, her way about her is too grand not to be. She doesn't often associate with people outdoors much but somehow she manages to maintain a rapport with the whole town." Mark wedged his axe in the tree before scratching his head "Uh. If I remember right her name was Tea... No, that's a stupid name... Uh. TEIAS! That's the one. If you ask around for her someone'll have a better idea than me as t'her whereabouts if you're inclined to meet her." Mark's complex expression lightened and he looked rather pleased with himself for remembering such an unimportant thing in his life. "Teias, huh... I'll have to introduce myself to her."

It was three days before Taylor found the opportunity to meet the girl who had caught his attentions so powerfully. He was assisting a clothes merchant in restocking their wares when a familiar figure entered through the door. Taylor looked around as he was placing a box on a high shelf and nearly dropped it when his eyes met hers. Teias' face seemed to light up when she saw him there, brushing her hair behind her shoulder as she moved to talk to him. "So you were the man who so gallantly protected this defenceless town from those Orcs... I felt I must thank you personally for going so far out of your way for us without taking any form of compensation." The young-looking girl smiled reservedly at him as he shifted where he stood, as if embarrassed to be regarded so highly. "It was nothing really. Those Orcs were imposing but they lacked skill or intelligence." Taylor took Teias' hand in his own and went to kiss it before looking into her eyes and taking a better look at her face. He hadn't noticed before in the tavern as the light was dim and the crowd made it difficult to see but her appearance was somewhat different to what he had previously thought; her eyes, while still green seemed to give off an eerie glow matching their colour. Her ears and eyebrows also appeared to extend far past the norm for an ordinary human, extending out from her head. "You aren't a human, are you? So Teias, what brings a Blood Elf all this way? Should I begin running for my life?"

Teias' face flashed a somewhat hurt expression before regaining its composure and nodding at the man still lightly gripping her hand. "I am a Blood Elf, but from the grip you have on my hand you do not seem prepared to run regardless of my intentions. I don't want any harm to come to this town or its inhabitants, they were very accepting of me and continue to be. If you intend to be making this place your home for the time being then I would request at least your tolerance of my wish for a peaceful coexistence with the Humans here." Teias yanked her hand from his and took on an air of aloofness, moving toward the door. "Wait! I apologise!" Taylor took a step forward after her. "I am sorry. That was rude of me. You have caused me no harm and I offended you with my unfounded prejudices. Please, let me make it up to you somehow. I could not bear it if I felt your scorn."

Taylor wandered through the forest alone considering the new task he had been given to undertake. How or where he would find such an object was beyond him but through a combination of a desire to rectify his mistake and one to impress the new object of his affections he would have to honour her request. While he wandered in the general direction of the only lead for his quest, our hero allowed his mind to drift back.

_Teias stopped and half-turned back to look him in the eye, smirking at him slyly. "If you wish to enter my good graces once more then there is something you might be able to retrieve for me. If you do so then I shall be in your debt." Taylor merely nodded, indicating for her to continue. "While I was travelling here from the west I was beset by a pack of wolves, tearing one of the bags from my shoulder as I fled. It is presumably still in the area, however it is not the bag that concerns me but a precious relic contained within it. Holding sentimental value far exceeding its monetary worth, I would reward you with untold affections should you return it to me."_

Pondering and musing upon this for a while as he walked, Taylor wondered what such item could hold a value so high to a Blood Elf. A magical artefact or mana focus would be what his first guess would be, however Teias had made it clear that the item might even be next to worthless to anyone but herself, although this may just be a ruse to prevent him from making off with the item and selling it. Taylor sighed; it was unbecoming of him to think such unfounded things. He instead decided to imagine what such a charming girl could have meant by her mention of a reward so open to interpretation, of course Taylor would happily accept nothing in return other than her thanks and definitely would not force some sort of compensation from her; however a Blood Elf's age was notoriously difficult to discern simply from appearance. A girl appearing to be in her mid teens might be in actuality several hundred years old and due to the stereotype of the Blood Elf hedonistic lifestyle she might be well versed in all sorts of things that Taylor wouldn't have dared imagine, even if he was given the chance.

Brought back to his senses by a skin-trembling howl, Taylor awoke to his surroundings; he must have wandered completely unaware of the sun setting or even how far he was walking but that was not the pressing issue here, Taylor was surrounded entirely by wolves.


End file.
